-Santa Rosa school PTA head
Chairman of the Santa Rosa Primary School Parent-Teachers’ Association (PTA), Mark Atkinson, yesterday said that his body would accept donations from the Alliance For Change (AFC) and any other organisation or individual towards the building of sanitary blocks at the school.
“This is not a political issue. My only concern is for the 700 children at the school… We asked for assistance and if the AFC or anyone comes forward with assistance we would accept it,” the man told Stabroek News yesterday.
Atkinson’s statement came in response to Minister of Education, Shaik Baksh, who said at a press conference on Monday that the AFC would not be allowed to donate to the school unless it got permission from the school management, the education department, the regional administration and ultimately the Ministry of Education. The minister said that while his ministry accepts assistance from international bodies and non-governmental organisations it “would not allow the AFC to use this as a political agenda for their political objectives and goals to go into these schools and do what they want.” He further said that the party would have to work along with the established system and should not be “jumping on the bandwagon wildly.
“This is a matter concerning the health [and] safety of schoolchildren in Guyana which I as minister and the Ministry of Education have deepest concern for and we would work tirelessly to ensure the safety and health of the school population.”
However, Atkinson said, the Santa Rosa Primary PTA was not involved in politics and since it had made a public appeal to the entire country, he did not understand why the minister would want to block the body from accepting donations from any person or organisation.
The PTA’s public appeal had been pointed out to the minister on Monday, but he had said the AFC still had to get permission as the PTA did not “control the school.”
The PTA head pointed out that the body had been receiving donations to assist in the maintenance of the school and as such the toilet bowls and other items to be donated by the AFC come Friday, would further assist.
Atkinson said he was aware of a circular, which states that no head, teacher or staff of schools is allowed to request any monetary assistance or ask parents for anything for the school, as such requests should be left up to the parents of the school. Therefore, he said, he could not see how or why the minister was attempting to block the PTA from accepting a donation after a public appeal.
The issue of pit latrines still being used at the school has fuelled public debate following the tragic death of nine-year-old Tenesha De Souza on the first day of the school’s term after she fell in the pit of one of the latrines.
Meanwhile, with regard to the $1 million donated to the school under the Education For All-Fast Track Initiative Programme (EFA-FTI), which the minister said would be used to build additional classrooms and a sanitary block, Atkinson said that money was only made available recently, after the death of the child. He said there were promises before but the money was not handed over.
The minister had said that Santa Rosa was one of the 15 schools that benefited from the improvement part of the EFA-FTI project.
Atkinson said the money was handed over and it was placed in the bank as the PTA was awaiting more donations to build the sanitary block, since the money was inadequate. “There is a circular that states that for every 30 children in a school there should be one toilet. So if you calculate this number by 700 then you would see that we are talking about over 20 toilets… that money cannot build [the] sanitary block and extend the school.”
He said he hoped the members of the body would rally around him and once again stressed that there was nothing political in their move to get assistance to build toilets for their children as they were only thinking of their well-being.
The PTA head appealed to the minister not to stand in their way of accepting donations from anyone, locally or internationally, while adding that they would still need more donations so persons who are still willing to help can approach the body. He said while they have sand to start the project they did not have the technical skills and would be grateful for assistance in that area. (Oluatoyin Alleyne)
